Meeting Elle
by Clara Fonteyn
Summary: Nico's left completely alone after Bianca died, and now he's sitting heartbroken in pouring rain, when he meets Elle and struggles to overcome his loneliness. NOT a Nico/OC story. Takes place between BOTL and TLO. Review, please.
1. In which I sit in rain

**Hi! I'm back! Anyway, this is my fourth story (duh!) and it is **_**not**_** just another Nico/OC. You'll understand it better if you read my story Accident, but it works fine alone, too. **

_Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians._

Hades is one of the richest gods; he controls all the metals under the ground. So why am I sitting in pouring rain, dressed in all but rags outside a bar in Nevada? And I'm not talking Vegas, Nevada. I mean lonely, heartbroken, mountain-surrounded Nevada.

I'd been to Vegas a few days ago, but it…wasn't for me (and I am not saying the dirty things the ground was littered with). It had the hum of a metropolis, the same feeling there was in New York. It was a feeling of closeness and distance, like a family that loved you from afar.

Oh, that was half the description of my life. But I didn't have a family that loved me from afar. I barked a sarcastic laugh. Oh, no, my family, (if it was a true _family_) hated me from afar. New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco…they were all painful reminders of what I had but was taken away from me, and everything I never had at all.

_Bianca_…Bianca. The name still tore at my heart, still caused me pain. Looking back now, I see all the times I could have thanked her, I could have helped her, and I…didn't.

Bianca was less a sister, more a mother to me. I had it a lot better than a lot of demigods; I had some form of a family and I was protected and taken care of, in both the literal and figurative sense of the world.

I could only truly compare my life with two others—Percy and Thalia. Looking at it here and now, I saw the similarities between Thalia and me. She and I both had a dysfunctional family, a loving, dysfunctional, and _temporary_ family. But even if it wasn't permanent, even if it wasn't normal, it was _right_.

And Percy? He had it so much better than the two of us; his mother was there through his childhood; he had _friends_, whereas people openly shunned me. He always had a place to go to, a place he belonged, a place where he was loved.

There was that word: loved. There wouldn't be love in my life. No, Hades is not meant to love. Bianca loved me, _my sister loved me_, but I didn't see what I had till it was gone. Camp was not…accepting of me, and there was no other home I had. I had no place to go; I was wanted nowhere.

I don't know how long I sat there on the doorstep, my heart shattering, my tears mingling with the raindrops. I don't know how long I sat there, rain flooding over the banks of my life.

***

I noticed small hands patting me on the back, interrupting my silent sobbing. I turned, but not in shock; I felt clean, relieved, but I also felt hollow, like I was empty inside.

A girl with dark brown hair and blue eyes smiled at me. She was about six or seven years, and she was a half-blood. I could tell from one touch.

I stared at her, not angrily, but woodenly.

She looked back. "My mommy used to say that crying sometimes is good for you," she said. Her voice was high and flutelike, but not reedy or nasal. "I can tell you don't cry often."

I had to smile at this kid. Here she was, in an alley next to a bar in Nevada, and she was taking the time to tell me it was okay.

"Aren't you afraid I'm a monster?" I asked. I didn't bother telling her about her godly heritage. Either she knew, or she'd find out. Besides, it was none of my business.

She shook her head. "No. I fight a lot of monsters, but they don't go away. But you aren't a monster. You're nice. You talked to me." She said the last part sadly.

"Don't a lot of people talk to you, kid?" I asked.

"No," she said, even sadder than before. "My mommy became an angel a few months ago." I winced; she didn't know yet. "The lady at the Church told me. She said that I'd live with a new mommy and daddy, in a f-fotser house." I didn't bother telling her it was pronounced 'foster'.

"That's too—" I stopped in the middle of my sentence and cussed under my breath. Police sirens. Either they'd assume I was a runaway and try to find out where I lived, or they'd assume I kidnapped the kid. I stood up, ready to run, when I noticed that the girl was doing the same thing.

"Where are you going?" I asked. I didn't want her tagging along with me.

"If they find me, they'll put me back into a fotser home," she explained.

She was in the same place as me; the police couldn't catch her. But I couldn't take her with me, I just met her.

_Nico_, came a voice. Bianca's or my conscience. It was the same; she was the one who taught me right and wrong. _Nico, you can't leave her here._

I don't know her.

_Bianca didn't leave you._

Bianca was my sister. I don't know who this kid is.

_Nico, leaving her here would be wrong._

I don't know her first name!

It was silent; the voice was gone. And I had lost the argument, like always.

"Hey kid, do you want to come with me?" I asked with a sigh.

Her smile lit her whole face, and she nodded. "I can? Really?"

I understood how she felt…for a long time now, I'd had no family. "Yes, kid. You can come. Now let's go!"

***

We ran for a long time, looking around for the police cars. Eventually the sound disappeared and we were running in a forest. It was absolutely quiet.

Gasping for breath, I collapsed onto a pile of soft leaves. The kid didn't look any better; she was red in the face from running so far. For the first time I noticed that she had a pink Barbie bag on her back.

"Hey kid?"

"Yes, Nick?"

"What—hey, what did you just call me?"

"Nick. I named you Nick."

"Nick, huh?" I had to smile; the kid wasn't that far off. "Do you want to know what my name really is?"

She nodded and waited. "My name's Nico."

"I was close!"

"Yeah, you were. Do you wanna tell me what your name is?"

"My name is Danielle," she said.

"Danielle. That's a nice name," I said, even though it was a pretty common name.

"Thank you."

We sat there for a while, just breathing and thinking. Well, that's what I was doing, anyway.

"Nico?"

"Yeah, kid?"

"Who are you?"

"I'm Nico."

"No, I mean, who are you? Where are your mommy and daddy?"

"Danielle…did anybody ever tell you about the Greek gods?"

"Yes. Mommy told me bedtime stories every night."

"Well, all those gods-and those monsters-they're all real."

She sat up and said, "I know."

"What?"

"I know. I see the monsters."

Oh. This kid was smart. "Well, there's something you probably didn't know—your daddy is a god."

"Really? Do you know him?" she asked excitedly.

"Maybe, Ki—Danielle. See, your daddy could be anybody. He has to claim you…" My sentence trailed off as a hologram, gold image of a sun appeared above her head.

She looked up and stared at the gold circle, taking a step back to see it better.

I felt a swell of selfish self pity run through me. I had never been claimed.

Danielle turned to me. "Nico? Is that a sun?"

"Yes, Danielle. It's a sun."

"Isn't the god of the sun Apollo?" This kid was really smart. If she'd had grey eyes, I would have thought that she was a daughter of Athena.

"Yeah, kid, it's Apollo. You've been claimed. Your daddy is Apollo."

Danielle's eyes turned round with wonder. "My daddy is the sun god?"

I sighed quietly. This was common for a new half blood, I guessed. I'd never met one, except Danielle.

"Yes, kid. Your dad is Apollo, the god of the Sun, music, archery, poetry, and doctors. Congrats on being claimed. I hope you're happy." The words came out bitter, acrid. The kid noticed.

"Nico, why are you sad?" she asked. I turned away.

"Come on, kid. We need to keep moving and find a place to stay for now."

**Well, it came out different than what I intended. This was the first time I wrote in Nico's point of view, and I don't think he's in character. If anybody has any advice on improving it, please tell me. **

**Please tell me what you thought about this piece, as well; I'm not really sure what **_**I**_** think about it.**


	2. In which I argue about stupid things

**Finally decided to get off of my lazy butt and write another chapter to this. Don't know what's gonna happen. Don't care, cause I know it's all gonna be okay. Besides, nobody's gonna flame…right? :D I really don't care if y'all flame, though. If you do, I'll either be all 'Ha ha ha!' or 'Whatevs'. Just throwing that out there. **

_Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Go figure. _

"Hey, how about there?" I asked, pointing at a small clearing.

Danielle turned and gave it a bored glance. "No. There are too many leaves there. I don't like it."

"Jeez." I wanted to say a few more things, but they were mostly things kids under 13 shouldn't hear, so I didn't say them. **(Aw, Nico's getting all paternal!) **I'd suggested _at least_ fifteen other places and she'd shot them all down. At this point, I was ready to tie her up, put her in some meat flavored sacks, and throw her to the wolves.

"Nico, look," she squealed all of a sudden.

"Aaah!" I screamed. I _really, really_ don't like snakes. Like, I mean, I _really, really, really _don't like them. And there was one, slithering happily on the ground in front of me, like he didn't know that he almost gave me a heart attack.

"Gods, Nico, it's only a garter snake!" Danielle said. She stepped up to the thing and picked it up. "It's not gonna hurt you, see?" She brought her arm closer to me.

"If you are gonna carry that thing, you better stay ten feet away from me," I warned her. She sighed and released the snake.

"You're like a little kid, Nico. It's just a _snake_!" She said.

"Don't tell me you're not scared of _something_!" I yelled.

"I'm scared of water," she confessed. "I'm really scared of deep water."

I snorted. Good thing she didn't meet Percy instead of me. "It's a good thing you didn't meet a…_friend_ of mine. He's a son of Poseidon."

"Oh, his daddy's the god of Oceans!" The kid got so excited over everything. This is, like, _killing_ my air of gothness, I thought to myself sarcastically.

"Yeah," I said sourly. I couldn't wait to see her expression when she figured out who my daddy dearest was.

"Who's your dad?" she asked like she was reading my mind. I tried to think of a good way to tell her that my dad was Hades, but come on.

As it turned out that I didn't have to worry about it too much, though, because just then she squealed again. "Nico, look!"

"Again?" I grumbled.

She grabbed my hand and tugged. "There! That's the perfect place!"

I didn't see the big deal about it.

"Look! There's a stream!" she pointed happily. "A stream!" she repeated.

"I thought you didn't like deep water?" I questioned. She bit her lip nervously.

"Um, I lied to make you feel better," she said.

"Oh, great!" I yelled. "So you think I'm a baby!"

"I didn't say that!"

"You implied it!"

"I _what_-ed?"

"I'll have you know I was born in 1925!"

She looked at me strangely. "You're not _that _old," she muttered.

"Yes I--wait, how old do you _think_ I am?"

"At least, oh, maybe seventeen or eighteen?" she guessed.

"I'm ELEVEN!" I roared. I was flattered, though. I mean, she thought I was eighteen. That's pretty cool.

"I know," she smirked. "My dad's also the god of the oracle, remember?"

I face palmed myself. "It's not going to be easy traveling with you, is it?"

Danielle smiled widely. "Let's go set up camp." She bounded off towards the clearing by the creek.

This is going to be a long, _long _trip.

**Short. Short, but it's better than what I've been doing for this, at least, right? **

**Review, please!**


	3. Sorry, people, don't kill me, please

Hello, everyone. First of all, I'd like to say thanks for not hating me.

Oh, who am I kidding? I know you all hate me...I'm so sorry I haven't been updating.

I just wanted to let you guys know that I probably won't update any of my stories until about mid-April. (That's not a promise.)

Please hold the applause. It shatters my ego. ;D

I'd like to make one thing absolutely clear: **this is not a review-getter!!!** Seriously, I'm not putting this up for the reviews. I don't care if I get fifty reviews for this (actually, I'd love it!). I still won't update...personal reasons. The only reason I'm putting this up is because I just didn't want to be like people who don't upload stories for a year and then are "sooooooooooooooooooo !"

Well...thanks for taking the time to read and understand.

And of course, thanks for not hating me. :D

~Clara Elizabeth Fonteyn


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